A History of Indian Literature v2.c21.8

v2.c21.8

It was also in the vicinity of Kapilavatthu, near Piprāvā, on the Nepalese frontier, that Mr. W. C. *Peppé* found in 1898 a reliquary chest containing a crystal urn with remains of bones which were formerly regarded as actual relics of the Buddha.¹ The readings and explanation of the inscription which is written round the rim of the lid of the urn, certainly admits of various interpretations. Even if the explanation: "This is the reliquary treasure of the Lord Buddha of the Sakyas," is, as I believe, the correct one, this does not constitute a proof of the "authenticity" of the relics; it only shows that at Aśoka’s time (the script is that of the Aśoka inscriptions) people *believed* that these were relics of the Buddha.¹ Yet, this belief would scarcely have arisen, unless a man venerated as a saint, as a “Buddha,” had actually lived in the days before Aśoka.